Tuesday, May 19, 2009

As the Crabhubby nears his final hours as an employed architect, I beseech you to think of him and those like him as you pass out your own remaining coppers. Here follows a few words from Crabhub coworker Jege, good friend and frequent visitor here at Crabmommy:And you and yours? How's everyone faring in their chosen careers these days? Please, no happy "we're hanging in there" people or your happy comments will be removed by my site administrator. Complaints only.

18 comments:

I'm not happy. Not happy at all. But I AM creative so I'm looking at my current constraints from different angles in an attempt to restore some peace (and happiness) to my life.

I was laid off mid-January of this year, my company was purchased, and then my layoff was reversed (yay!), but then I had to start coming into the office on a daily basis.

In addition, my husband's freelance workload has decreased significantly and now I am my family's primary breadwinner. Sadly, it was only last week that I realized I never wanted to be the breadwinner. I hadn't ever thought about it until suddenly I had to leave my kids everyday AND hear about all the SAHM-like activities my (yes, I know, wonderful) husband has been doing with them. (Today was a park outing. Now they're at the grocery store. Next is carpool.)

Yes. I am grateful that I am still employed. Yes. I am grateful that my husband has whole-heartedly embraced his Mr. Mom role. Yes. I am grateful that I now only do laundry when I have a moment. But it doesn't change the fact that I am greatly saddened because I am not home when my boys return from school.

So my creative, life-juggling, scheduling skills are actively turning. Today I believe I have identified a solution. Only time will tell.

The bulk of our modest income comes from the state of California. Which is officially broke! So we're seeing, what, at least a 10 percent drop in salary if not more. Forced furloughs, etc., etc. Sure, money's still coming in and we get benefits. But still. Total ripoff.

In late breaking news from the London Book Fair, my latest book has been rejected by: USA, UK, Germany, Portugal, Spain, Netherlands, Italy (sad, as they've been sticking by me) and, worst of all, Bulgaria. I'm still waiting on my cheque from the Czechs - and, no, that is not a joke.

Jege, would you like to take up a career as a literary agent? I will supply beer + 10 per cent. It's a pirate book (has everyone forgotten the Maersk Alabama already?).

Sorry to hear this news CM. Come to Africa and live the life of poor but happy vagabons, like Mrs Blog and Me.

I'm not liking my teaching job right now. Budget cuts mean doing less with more, and parents don't get it. I'm sick and tired of being told to run a school like a business. Look, people, then send me a decent raw product! One that doesn't talk back or throw books at me! Yes, it was a rough day at the ranch.

I am a PhD level psychologist working in a small, rural school district in NC (i.e., underemployed). After successfully prohibiting a mentally imapaired 4th grader from gouging his eyes out with his pencil, AND talking a pissed off 6th grader out of killing his parents (who are "mean" to him), I just got my already paltry salary furloughed.

VillagePig [some name!, Daisy, tp, et al -- and most especially, Sara, I am sorry for the grim circumstances you too find yourselves in. All we can do is laugh and, in my case, compulsively chase after hits of Schadenfreude by reading accounts of the disgraced once-golden Madoff feeder-funders Walter Noel (Fairfield greenwich) and his golden daughters.http://tinyurl.com/ddyqrzThey too will all have to crimp their lifestyles and spend Xmas on Park Ave instead of Mustique this year. You see, everyone? We're all in this financial mess together!

I'm late to the party, but I never miss a chance to bitch about my financial mess!

My husband's contract ends tomorrow at the university and won't be renewed. We were informed not via a colleague, but by the administrative guy who wanted to make sure we applied for Cobra (who can afford Cobra, I sincerely want to know?). We have some income from a short-term contract to last out the summer, but no prospects for income in the fall. The irony is that my husband studies influenza and was just interviewed by newspapers, radio stations, and television news programs all over the world because of the swine flu, and he just published a book. So where's the $$$?

Alexis,That is seriously crap. As for COBRA can you utilize the Recovery thing that stipulates 65% of COBRA will be paid by employer? Doesn't help much when one has a pittance for an income if at all (believe me I know) but it's definitely a big improvement on the former cobra.

We live in Michigan, home of the 14% unemployment rate. Husband works for one of the auto companies. Fear has been the watchword for the last two years. New cutbacks get announced every three months on average, and then it's four weeks of wondering every day to see if he's going to be let go. Husband is our primary breadwinner. I pick up some work off and on from my father's business. (Which isn't doing all that great)I'm tired of being scared and worried all the time.

Let my join the party. Taxes keep going up around here, and it's imperative that we sell our house and move somewhere else. Ha, that won't be easy. There's already 2 houses up for sale on our cul-de-sac. Plus, we keep getting bills from the hospital and clinic for our son--who was born 7 months ago! What the hell? I thought we had all that paid! We have sucky insurance.

Here's another perspective. My husband has a high tech business and our employees are the most expensive part of our overhead. We are a small group and really depend on the team that we have to create our mostly-custom techie stuff. So, how do we weather a downturn when we want to keep our team intact and feel like each employee is valuable? Well, we've had to cut hours and pay 25% for the last 2 months. My husband, in a show of solidarity, has also cut his pay but not his hours. Yikes! Our employees are being supportive because they don't want to lose their jobs, either, but we feel pretty bad. We hope to see an increase in sales in the next month, but it's hard to know for sure...believe me when I say it's hard to be on the other side...people families depend on our company's jobs and we take that responsibility seriously.

I'll join this parade a tad too late. My husband is also an architect, and, while he still technically has his job, his hours and pay were cut and our health insurance costs quadrupled. I'm having our second child in August, and we had a plan that I could finally stay home with our kids, as I've wanted to do. What a ridiculous notion now. But, we really are struggling with whether we should just go down to one income or suck up the ENORMOUS monthly childcare bill. F*ed if we do, f*ed if we don't.

By the way, none of his architect friends across the country are working full-time anymore.

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Crabmommy Manifesto

On this website I will never:*speak of the enchanting constant joy and transformative wonderment of motherhood*dispense little nuggets about what my child has taught me*tell any mom to stop and smell the diapers "because it all goes by in the blink of an eye"*make jokes about bowel movements and baby body fluids (because it's not my thing and it can be found abundantly elsewhere)*use the word "miracle"*count my blessings*chart my child's developmental milestones*seem to be in a good or grateful mood*be mean about my friends or family because they'll get me back

On this website I will:*laugh at myself*laugh at others*laugh at rural momming*laugh at urban momming*mock the Stokke highchair*covet the Stokke highchair

Disclaimer:Let me say once for the record: like any mother I adore my own tot, think she is more brilliant, beautiful and gifted than yours, but this goes without saying. So I'm not going to say it (again). Rather, I vow to use my precious bloody-little time to talk about the more wretched and tricky aspects of momhood, pausing often to drown myself in a vat of self-pity and whining. Welcome!

About Me

Originally South African, then was an urban mommy (NYC), then hubby and I decided NYC sucks unless one is awash in cash...so we decamped to the smalltown cowboy west, to a town of many hyperfit, cheery "Look On the Bright Side" moms. Too much cheeriness forced us north and west and urban and rainy. I am happier in gloom. Crabmommy is mom to one child and one only, and by God it's going to stay that way. Recent musings in a variety of fancy literary magazines that nobody reads SO THEN I GOT A REAL WRITING JOB with Cookie magazine online, where I have a bloglet about momming. (Like I don't plug that one enough. Sheesh.)
email: crabmommy [then u make the at sign] gmail [dot] com